Journal Entry 072910: Can’t be done?

While my tendency to try new things
and experiment is a part of my personality I am most proud of, a couple of
weeks ago I might have carried it too far. I was lucky to walk away.

I could blame Seth Godin for it all
since his writing challenges me to be brave and adventurous. His has become one
of the most influential voices in my life these past months. He told a story
about an ultra-lightweight backpacker: Wolf was carrying a super-small pack which
weighed 14 pounds including food and water. When asked how he got his pack
weight so low, he replied, “All you need to know it that it’s possible.” Godin
says that somewhere in the world someone is doing something that you decided
couldn’t be done, and they are calling your bluff.

I have been running once a week in
my Vibram Five-Fingers shoes, which are actually gloves for the feet and not
really shoes and have nothing to do with fingers. I’ve written a lot about that
already. But barefoot running, or in my case, quasi-barefoot running, has
intrigued me, and I have continued to read internet accounts of people who run
truly barefoot –skin on the ground – on a regular basis. There is a
back-to-earth hippie element to it that does not attract me in the least, but
there is also a foot-strengthening and mid-foot strike element that has real
value. I have weak and tender feet and I have used that as an excuse not to try
real barefooting, but those stories I read – they keep calling my bluff.

So one Tuesday I decided to finish
my regular three-mile Vibram run by doing a few laps on the track in my naked
bare feet. It is a modern rubberized soft-surface track, smooth and flat, so it
seemed the perfect place to take the next step. I ran to the track, pulled off my
Vibrams, and the first thing I noticed was the surface of the track was
scorching hot. I couldn’t believe how hot it was. I had expected it to be much
cooler than the concrete sidewalk or asphalt street. I guess I thought it would
be more like that surface around swimming pools that never really gets hot even
in the middle of a sunny day.

I was wrong. It was so hot I knew I
couldn’t stand still and get used to it like you do when the bath water is too
hot. This was hot enough to do serious damage to my feet. So I hopped across
the track to the football turf assuming green grass – even artificial turf –
would be cooler.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The turf was
just as hot as the grass. I couldn’t believe it. So I hopped a few yards across
the turf to a large patch that was painted white, part of the sideline
markings. Even thought it was white, it was just as hot.

I stood on that scorching turf and
pondered my options. I knew I couldn’t stay where I was without burning my
feet. I had to move back across the hot track and grab my Vibrams and get
outside the gate to a cooler place. And I had to do it right away. Not only
were my feet burning, but it was so hot I was holding my breath. I had to move
immediately.

I bounced and hopped across to my
shoes. It was so hot I didn’t even care whether anyone was watching me or how
nerdy I looked. I grabbed my Vibrams and staggered out the gate to the real
Bermuda grass and collapsed on the ground. I was glad to be off my feet.

Even though this bout of
barefooting was a failure, I am certain I will try it again in the fall when
the surfaces are cooler. I want to get stronger and I think this will help. I
want my knees to last a few more decades and I think this will help with that,
too.

And I suppose I should’ve known
better about the hot track. It is Texas
in July, after all. And the air temperature that day was over 90*F. I am a man
of hope, but in this case hope was not enough.

As I am typing, two weeks later, my
feet feel much better. All the tenderness has healed. I have run a couple of
times in my Vibrams, enough to know I did no lasting damage dancing across the
hot track. I will be back; the experiment continues.

So I ask, what are you trying
that’s new? What are you working on that can’t be done? Let me know … I’d like
to hear your story.

“I run in the path of Your
commands, for You have set my heart free.” Psalm 119:32

To learn more about Berry’s newest book, “Running
With God:” www.runningwithgodonline.com

Follow Berry on Twitter at @berrysimpson … Contact
Berry directly: berry@stonefoot.org